Section 17 Notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION

Section 22(1) states that information intended for future publication is exempt information if:

(a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not), (b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and (c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date of publication

Section 22 is a qualified exemption which means that the decision to disclose the requested material is subject to a public interest test.

The CPS acknowledges that there is a public interest in demonstrating the transparency of the prosecution process and the performance of the organisation.

Some of the data you have requested may be published on the CPS Website later this year and a quarter in arrears.

The timetable for publication allows for the review and validation of the figures to be included in the report and to release this information ahead of schedule would compromise the accuracy of the data.

On balance, I do not consider that it would be in the public interest to disclose the information requested ahead of schedule.